1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a shift lever supporting structure of a vehicle transmission, and more particularly to a shift lever supporting structure equipped with a so-called fail-safe means which can operatively support the shift lever even when the shift lever is accidentally disengaged from the originally installed bearing or supporting member during handling of the shift lever.
2. Description of the Prior Art
ln a manual transmission system of a motor vehicle, various measures have been proposed for pivotally supporting a shift lever which is mounted in the driver's compartment of the vehicle for manual operation of the transmission. By manually moving the shift lever about the pivoted portion thereon in the fore-and-aft and/or right and left directions, the movement of the shift lever is transmitted to the internal gear mechanism of the transmission to effect a gear change of the transmission. However, many supporting structures hitherto used are not provided with a so-called fail-safe means which assures the operative pivotal movement of the shift lever even when the originally installed shift lever supporting structure breaks during the shifting operation of the shift lever.